Conde Nast Closes Iconic Gourmet Magazine

By  Rachel Howell Stockton

As expected, the downturn in the economy has had a ripple effect throughout; when one industry hurts, it affects other industries related to it, whether directly or indirectly.  Even staid, well established entities can end up folding under the pressure of recession.

Such is the case with Conde Nast and its popular publication, Gourmet Magazine.  The publisher announced this month that it will stop printing the magazine, but said that the publication will continue on its website Gourmet.com.

Gourmet is no ordinary culinary magazine; it’s been around since January of 1941, and has provided its readers with lush photography, along with food and travel writing that comes close to being literary in quality.

That’s one reason why so many people are stunned by Conde Nasts’s move to fold the publication..  Most insiders, even those who work for other magazines under the Conde Nast umbrella, didn’t expect such a move.

After all, one could argue that Gourmet should flourish in such an economy, because cooking at home is certainly more cost effective for magazine subscribers than is going out for gourmet fare.  Add to that the fact that many of the menus are healthy, and the result is a nice, simple respite for Gourmet readers; one that provides a simple pleasure at a time when more expensive reprieves are out of the question.

But it’s not the subscribers that are the problem.  After a three month analysis by McKinsey and Company, Conde Nast was advised to cut 25% of its costs, as they’ve lost 8,000 ad pages since the downturn.